Archive for the IKEA Category

For the final article of our “IKEA Week,” we’re reviewing two types of jarred herring from IKEA’s Swedish Foodmart in Brooklyn. The first, Inlagdsill (meaning “fish that swims with french fries”) is herring in marinade. The marinade is not further defined. The second, Dillsill (meaning “fish that loves to get dirty”) is herring in dill marinade, something which I’m sure Vlasic will be copying any minute now.

Surprisingly enough, both types of herring were not just edible, they were downright tasty. The normal marinade tasted a bit too much like ketchup to me (even though it was clear, making the effect creepier), but I managed to eat several miniature filets without gagging. The dill marinade was quite well-seasoned, as long as you can ignore the fact that fish in a jar will usually have half your daily allowance of salt in every serving. It’s hard to describe the flavor other than “pickled fish,” so I won’t try it. But it would have been delicious on a piece of toasted bread.

So if you’re having a party, and somehow need to go to IKEA to buy a set of cabinets for that party, stop by the foodmart and pick up some herrings. Your guests will be pleasantly surprised.

“Kottbullar”? I’m pretty sure that’s Swedish for cow testes. Nevertheless, you can’t go to IKEA without encountering at least one giant poster for their meatballs, so I had to review the take-home-a-sack version. At under $7 for 2.5 pounds, it seemed like a good deal.

IKEA, I expected more from your balls. They’re chewy, and there’s not much seasoning to speak of. The taste reminds me of the sausage links you get at Denny’s. The back of the package says “beef and pork” but you couldn’t distinguish one from the other. Plus, they totally shrank once they were cooked, and nobody likes shrunken balls.

Perhaps they’re better when served with Swedish creme sauce and fresh lingonberries, as the package suggests. I’m sure they’d be fine in your Trader Joe’s pasta. But as an hors d’oeurve, these balls just don’t add much spice to your culinary soup.